Porsche club motorsport driver James Clayton, 26 has claimed that F1 is no longer recruiting 'the greatest talent' but instead choosing those with the deepest pockets.
James, who races Porsche GT3 cars in a Euro series made the claims exclusively in an interview with The DRS Zone F1 he said:
"When I started racing at around 8 years-old in a kart all I dreamed of was competing in F1."
"I won my first junior series when I was 11 and was selected to race in the British karting cup."
"But, as i got older it became increasingly apparent that without bags of money, I was unable to compete with drivers who had a seemingly unlimited backing."
James is now sponsored by Permec, a British organisation who specialise in car performance and tuning.
"Without the sponsorship it is simple, I would not be able to race!"
Formula One has undoubetdly seen an increase in recent years in 'sponsor drivers' who don't only bring their racing skill to the team, but, it cames additionally to financial backing.
With Formula One continually trying to decrease the annual spending of teams could this bring the advantage back to the more talented drivers.
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| Fia. Source: Autosport |
James said: "In my opinion it is right that the FIA are trying to reduce costs but, I think they have a long way to go before they are able to go back to the ways of having the most talented driver in the seat of their car."
"Surely that is what F1 should be, the best drivers, racing in the best racing cars in the world."
"It is already so difficult to be involved in motor racing but compare it to other sports and it is impossible to draw any comparison."
"In other sports if you have the talent then you will be picked up, in motorsport that isn't half the story. You have to support yourself for so long, from when I started racing I think my father has pushed over £50,000 of his own money into supporting my racing - and that is still not enough!"
The costs involved in young people being involved in motorsport is notably large, with the membership for the average junior kart season ranging from £250 to £600.
One solution is for potential drivers' is to find sponsorship, James said: "Sponsorship is essential, but it really is difficult to gain. I am talking about during the younger years of your racing career, even though you may be the most talented driver on the grid if you run out of money for new tyres, chassis, springs- you will be unable to compete."
"As a result, some of the most talented drivers' are not given the chance to develop and instead other drivers who are less talented are able to go further in their career to due the funding that they have."
One answer to this is Karting academies, one that has proved to be successful is the British Schools Karting Championship (BSKC). They offer students to get involved in racing from a young age and are helped to learn how to become a racing driver.
Student between the ages of 13-18 are able to join the programme which is made up of teams of three.
All that is needed to start up is
+ 2 Team mates
+ A teacher willing to act as captain
+ £150 entry fee
Information on help raising the funds and more details on what the academy can actually do for YOU are available here: http://www.bskc.co.uk/
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